Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-08-04
"T. p. R." Answers "E."

| Ed. Register-In your last number
of the REGISTER / saw an article from
your correspondent at Goodwater, in
which he complains of being boycotted
or slighted; that he has in former num-
| bers asked several questions which
| have not been answered, and in one OF
those numbers saw he mentioned my
name. Now I do not wish "E" to
| think for one moment that I did not
reply to his letter out of disrespect or a
wish to slight or ignore him in the
least. But you must remember that
We have had very hot summer, and
that 1t has been a very busy one. The
farmers have had no tl.ne to fool away
at least have not) and in all my let
ters to the REGISTER, they have been
written more for my own amusement,
and for the amusement of the boys and
girls of the present age; and I do not
class myself with the savants who
think that it they should die wisdom
would die with them.
Tn former number of the REGISTER
"E" asks the question, "Will wheat
under certain conditions, change to
cheat or chess?" Now that is a ques-
ton which has been discussed in some
of the agricultural papers for year-for
instance the american Agriculturist-
and found plenty of writer's on each
side, and some of the writer's got quite
warm over the subject, and I think
they are just as far apart to-day as they
were at the start. Now, my opinion is
that wheat will turn to cheat under
certain conditions, and now for my
reason for thinking SO: When we first
came to this country, one of the fields
on the Stout's Greek bottom, which
had been cleared by the old man Stout
or Itson, had been cultivated in corn
for years. was told that no other
crop Except cockleburrs had ever
been raised on the field. The second
year we were here we ploughed that
field up with those cast plows we
brought with US and sowed the field to
oats, and such crop of oats as grew
on that field never saw before. The
night before we were to cut these oats,
there came one of those terrible storms.
such as we used to have In those days,
and laid those oats just as fiat on the
ground as though log had rolled over
them. and such time as we had in
harvesting them, for we had to cut the
whole eighteen acres of oats " ith the
scythe. We got nineteen long stacks of
oats off the field and stacked them in
the field. Every day while we were
at work great focks of wild turkeys
would come in with all their young.
Every day, all the fall and winter, one
could go to that field and see hundreds
of turkeys; and did we catch any of
those turkeys? Well, I should think
we did; we made pens to catch them
in aud shot a great many of them. We
caught over hundred turkeys that fall
and winter. Roasted turkey, fried tur-
key, boiled turkey-turkey every day.
and didn't we get tired of eating them?
Talk about getting tired of eating tur-
key and quails; no, you take your axe
and maui, six wedges and go in the
woods and maui rails and chop in the
clearing and you could eat good tur-
kew every meal. Talk about can't eat
thirty quails in thirty days! Give me
the quails and I will eat them day aft
er day all wiLter.
That fall we sowed the field In wheat
good clean wheat; not a bit Of cheat
in it. AS soon as the wheat began to
look green, the deer and turkey COM
menced eating it. One side of the field
went hack to q mountain, where the
deer came In. You could any evening,
about sun-down, see, sometimes, fifteen